The LUMA Centre: Combining Chefs, Chemists, Students, and Teachers

 What do you get when you put home economics teachers, chemistry teachers, food scientists and chefs together?  A very interesting day!

I'm spending today and tomorrow at the LUMA Centre at the University of Helsinki, which focuses on promoting the natural sciences, mathematics, technology and computer science for all levels of education.  They work together with students, teachers, scientists and industry professionals to make science relatable to all people and make it interesting. Last year the LUMA Centre had more than 3,000 visitors to their chemistry lab with the central focus of making these topics more interesting.  From the looks on the children's faces who are here today, I'd say it is working.

When I first arrived, primary school students were in the lab making "sugar rainbows," which are columns of colorful layers of sugar water - where the layers at the bottom are more dense (more sugar) than the ones above it, so the students can see how density affects the liquid's placement in the column. (May I say how difficult it is to get photographs of students working with test tubes without getting their faces?  They don't stay still very long and their heads are moving back and forth and the test tube is up and down and people walk in front and around you.  :)

Concurrently, teams of home economics and chemistry teachers from the lower secondary (middle school) level were meeting to write cooking lessons that incorporated chemistry into the learning of their students.  The teachers also had the chance to make the "sugar rainbows" and but their task was not just to see it, but to think about what drinks could be made using these concepts in home economics class. In this way, students can apply what they have learned about density and make themselves a drink.

These teachers are in the midst of a three-year project to combine chemistry and cooking in the lower secondary level of school (middle school in the U.S.). The teachers had previously identified ten themes for their studies and were working on learning, and applying, the chemistry behind these themes.  For example, when the teachers studied emulsions, a chef came to the university and talked with them about sauces, they studied the chemistry behind the sauces, then they made the sauces and ate them!  For protein chemistry, they focused on the chemistry of cooking proteins, what could be made using eggs (because meat is too expensive for a school lab), and what would be easy to cook in a school.  For foams they discussed the chemistry behind meringues, and of course, made them and ate them, too! At this point in the project, the teachers are busy applying what they had learned in their studies to making curriculum for their students.

I had a long discussion with Anu Hopia, a food chemist, and she discussed in greater detail the chemistry of food and its connection with culinary arts.  She thinks this approach is a good way to introduce basic science phenomenon because it interests them and it helps them apply chemistry into everyday events.




We talked about the different ways a baked potato can be cooked - by baking it in the oven with or without aluminum foil, or baking it in the oven surrounded by salt, or cooking in the microwave.  Each of these methods affects the taste, structure, and texture of the potato.

  The heating patterns of a potato cooked in a microwave oven.

What happens to heat when a potato is wrapped in foil and cooked in a conventional oven.

What happens to moisture when a potato is wrapped in foil and cooked in a conventional oven.

In another example teacher students compared the taste of vegetables that were sautéed (or not) before they were put into soup.  Anu said  people can detect very small differences in preparations and therefore by evaluating food in this way, people learn to truly taste the food and appreciate it.

There were several books available for the teachers to use in their research for their curricular project, as well as the Internet, of course, but her highest recommendation was a book by the San Francisco author, Harold McGee.

If you would like to see more about Anu Hopia's work, her blog can be found at www.molekyyligastronomia.fi .  (For the "Translated to English" version, CLICK HERE.)

Tomorrow I will be joining these home economics and chemistry teachers in a kitchen in downtown Helsinki.  We'll see what they create!

A big thank you to Sakari Tolppanen for such an articulate and interesting interview today about scientific problem solving and how he teaches the concept of sustainability. Kiitos!

 A sign on the front of the university restaurant.

One of My Favorite People + An Artist in Gouda

To those of you who know him it won't be a surprise to say I am so excited to say I got to spend a week with one of my favorite people - Bryan Jossart. I met up with Bryan in the Netherlands a few weeks ago and yes, we had some giggles together.  Okay, we laughed until we cried about some of the most silly things, but I guess that's what happens when good friends get together.

We coordinated our trip so we would get together during his spring break from school (and yes, he is the most amazing math teacher) and we also got to meet up with a dear friend of his from when he taught in Germany.  Her name is Sandy Ramon-Jenet and they were adorable together - two close friends who hadn't seen each other in years and years and she just adores Bryan, too.  The three of us had a great time together.

I made Bryan pose for this picture....

I told Bryan, "I want to go to Gouda because I love Gouda cheese!"  He said, "Okay! That's a great reason to go to Gouda - because you like the cheese!"  So we got on the train and went to Gouda! (What a good friend!)

This is one of the small alleyways in Gouda alongside the village church and just around the corner we found a shop with pencil sketches in the window.  I am a frustrated art collector and in my mind I would like to be collecting Picasso's and Rembrandt's, Van Gogh's and Lichtenstein's, but on a teacher's salary, that just isn't going to happen.  In my mind, however, I collect these beauties and all my walls are adorned with interesting, captivating art.

When we walked down this alleyway, very close to where Bryan is standing, a man walked outside his gallery to have tea and a cookie, and to sit in his chair in the sunshine.  His shop kitty followed closely behind.  I asked the artist (in sign language, more or less, because I don't know Dutch) if we could come in his shop to see his artwork.  He motioned us in and he sat on a chair to have his tea.

I was captivated by his work, and when I picked up this picture, I simply couldn't put it down.

The artist and I wanted to talk about his sketch but with the language difficulties we just couldn't get very far.  It was heartbreaking, and heart-filling at the same time.  We agreed on a price (I didn't barter and it wasn't expensive) and I paid him in euros.  Bryan reminded me that I would have to get the sketch home because this is not a small piece of work - perhaps 60 cm. wide.  It didn't matter.  The frustrated art collector in me wanted it.  I wanted to have those deep-looking, reflective eyes in my house.  I wanted to remember this experience with this man with all the years of his career building to moments like this - when he has visitors to his gallery and looks forward to tea in the sunshine with his cat.

It was difficult to leave the gallery when we were done, and this feeling still strikes me.  We kept looking at each other as if we had something to say, but neither of us could communicate.  I think he was pleased that someone appreciated and understood his work, and I was pleased that someone could create something that affected me so deeply.  (Thank goodness I lost that terrible white hat! It now belongs to someone in the Netherlands.)

So we walked away, but I wanted a picture of this street, his street, so I could remember what it looked like on this cool spring day.  I went back and found him, sitting on his chair, enjoying the warmth of the sunshine.

You see him there, on the right side, sitting in the white chair.  His shop is opposite him on the left side of the street.  To the back of us is the old Gouda church.  

Gerrit Kloens, artist

For a six-minute video on Gerrit Kloens and his art, CLICK HERE.

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On another day, Bryan and I decided to go to the Rembrandt Museum House but when Bryan found out I wanted to go to a 3-hour class about etching and how the 17th century artists mixed their paints, he was less than thrilled. When we learned the classes are continuous walk-bys for the visitors we went together and we were not disappointed.

This instructor was very articulate at explaining the process of etching and why Rembrandt was so successful at this art form. (Of course, it only made me want to do one myself!)

Tools for etching.

After the metal etching is done, it looks like this.

The large-looking mallets on the left were used to take the ink and "ink" the metal etching.  They were made of skin that doesn't absorb the ink, which, unfortunately, was made from the skin of dogs - because (as many of us know), dogs don't perspire and therefore their skin is more resilient to the absorption of ink.

When the metal form is inked, it is put on a piece of paper and put through this press.  

A finished print.

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On another day, Bryan and I went to the small town of Delft, but not specifically to see the tiles!  Many of the museums in Amsterdam are closed for renovations and the tulip gardens, which we really wanted to see, were still dirt, so we ventured out to new towns outside of Amsterdam.

 In Delft we went to the top of the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church).  Here is Bryan looking up the 300 + stair staircase to the top of the spire.  (Doesn't he look gallant in this light?  :)

 Here is the view to the marketplace from the spire.

View from Nieuwe Kerk.

"Yeah, baby.  We climbed the spire!"

Here's a picture from Utrecht, home of the infamous Maarten Andriessen.  It was home to the most enjoyable toy store I've ever had the privilege to visit - we played with everything!  Of course, it was the Pinocchio toy store!

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When I was a child I WANTED to be in the circus!  (Eek.  Tell me it wasn't so!)

SciFest, an Umbrella and a Bicycle

 

I like a place where you know the numerical temperature just by looking out the window.  When I woke up it was raining, then it was snowing, and when I got on my bike it was raining again.  Do people normally use an umbrella on a bicycle?  I have no idea, but I was going to use my umbrella and I had two goals for the early part of the day - to get to the post office to pay my state and federal taxes, and go to the SciFest.

I made it to the post office through the drizzling rain and with a bit of help from Tuula was able to ask the Postmaster to postmark my letters and send them registered mail.  Here is the translation she told me to ask the Postmaster:  

"Haluan lähettää nämä kirjeet kirjattuna. Niissä pitäisi myös olla tämän päivän postileima. Onko se mahdollista?"

Clearly, I would be lost without Tuula.  She saves me at least twice a week!

I had to ask Tuula if it was okay to ride her bicycle in the rain and she seemed surprised.  (When I was a child I rode my bike in the rain and got in trouble for it because my father said it would make the bike rust.)  Tuula said, "Why do you ask?"  I said in southern California it doesn't rain very much and when it does, we usually don't ride our bikes.  She laughed, as did the others in the room as if to say, "If we stopped riding bikes because of the weather we wouldn't be riding our bikes very often."  

The next stop was SciFest, held in the Joensuu arena.

The SciFest is an event held in Joensuu every April and is focused on providing hands-on activities for young people to learn about science, technology and the environment.  It is held over a period of four days and students from the local schools visit for the day, the afternoon, or a Saturday, and are fortunate to have exhibits and movies and public speakers all at their disposal.  There are puzzles and robotics, microscopes, computers, broadcast equipment, airplanes to build and fly and rockets to launch.  Most of the arena floor is covered with engaging activities. It is great to see so many young people, and the adults that mentor them, enjoying the afternoon by solving puzzles.  The expected number of visitors was no less than 10,000 and that is a respectable turnout considering the population of Joensuu is just a bit more than 74,000 people.

Finnish Springtime

It has been a whirlwind month and I now stop to catch my breath, open the windows to the "warm" spring air, and enjoy Finland for its new effervescence.

Truly, as spring arrives, the Finnish people come "alive" and awaken, just like the natural environment around them.  In the winter, people stay inside, talk little, and have very little energy - at least it seems so in the rural areas.  (Helsinki didn't slow down one bit, I observed!)  But now that it is spring there is true happiness on the faces of people walking down the street;  they are smiling, conversing, and they have a lot more energy.

I've been filming most things for the last month and I have rapidly run out of space, over and over, on my computer for all the media.  I have a back-up, and I have DVD back-ups of my back-up. I have hours and hours and hours of interviews of teachers, and now students, as well as B-roll that isn't always well-shot.  Sometimes, I'm on the run, or students are doing something interesting, and it's all I can do to take out my small video camera and shoot it and hold it as steady as possible.  Sometimes I film it on my iPhone because that's all I have handy.  Most interviews are shot on my Canon 5D with nice lighting, but my B-roll... my students will have to forgive me for capturing things on the run the best I can.

Here are a few faces of the people I've have the good fortune to meet and interview this week at Joensuun Normallikoulu and Pielisojoen Koulu.  They were open and generous, and they shared their warmth, their perceptions, and their ideas with me.  To these new friends, thank you. I am impressed. (I will be sharing their ideas with you, too, in the near future.)

Juhani Marjomaa, 16 years old, Pielisjoen Koulu

 Paavo Kahkonen, 15 years old, Pielisjoen Koulu

Marja Kukkonen, 3rd grade teacher, Joensuun Normallikoulu

Miika Reinikainen, 15 years old, Pielisjoen Koulu

Sinikka Lyyra, Teacher, Pielisjoen Koulu

Hannu Maumanen, Headmaster, Pielisjoen Koulu